


He Reminds Them

by InterNutter



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Found Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 11:24:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12680907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterNutter/pseuds/InterNutter
Summary: Family can be one boy detective and seven alien explorers on a mission to save the fucking world.The exact moments when Angus was adopted by each of the IPRE crew.





	He Reminds Them

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I just fucking love TAZ:BA, which belongs to the McElroys.

Magnus would never admit it in a hundred years, but he was starting to like this little nerd. And it all happened because of the Book of Interception.

“It’s called Monkey in the Middle,” said Merle.

The kid stomped his feet and tried to stand up to a superior force. “I know what it’s called.”

Heh. It made him think a long time back to a scruffy little Magnus who had no hope at all of defending himself, trying to save a mangy old street dog from some older kids. This little fancy lad had some moxie.

 

*

 

“Quid pro quo, Mister Angus. Quid. Pro. Quo.”

“What he said,” said Taako. He was still pulling his ‘simple idiot wizard’ routine on everyone around him, but it was already starting to get frail.

“How bout I’m a little boy who knows you’re lying, and I can yell and yell and yell, and get you in lots of trouble.”

Sweet hog-fucking Oghma, this kid was a gods-damned _natural._ Taako would have to make sure he still had all his jewelery after shaking hands with _this_ kid.

Come to think of it, young Mr McDonald was at about the age Taako was when _he_ seriously started scamming people. It was a moment’s decision to side with the brat and give him his book back.

 

*

 

“I mean… I did detective good enough to see through your horseshit.”

 _Aw crap,_ thought Merle. _He’s adorable._

Just the kind of innocent, well-meaning curiosity and no-nonsense attitude that got _him_ into huge dollops of trouble at about the same age. This kid was just the right mixture of virtue, honesty, and near-terminal curiosity that made Merle want to adopt the little son of a bitch.

And he had enough troubles with his _own_ kids. He was certainly not adopting another one.

 

*

 

“I understand there’s an initiation, ma’am?”

Lucretia had hired Angus more as a means to stop him exposing the bureau than to do anything actually useful. “It’s… more a test of your capabilities,” she said. Desperately trying to come up with something to test him with. “Since you’re a detective, and you’ll be working with my three best Reclaimers…” Aha. Brilliance. Pure brilliance. “Find out something about one of them. Something even they don’t know. And then report back to me.”

“Is there a time limit, ma’am?”

Just as nervous and anxious as she was at that age. Terrified of failing the test, no doubt. “Considering the challenge… No. I will be seeing how long it takes you, though.”

It took him a week. _Dangerously_ curious. _Dangerously_ capable. Dangerously unaware of how dangerous he was. Just like herself at that age. Too _much_ like herself at that age.

“There’s lots that I found out, Ma’am,” said Angus. He had a notebook. “Though they have places of origin and places of… shall we say… interaction with historical record… there’s no trace of their existence prior to about eleven years ago.”

 _Crap!_ Lucretia thought. _Bad idea! Bad fucking idea!_

“That’s a mystery I haven’t been able to resolve, ma’am. As for something more concrete… Taako had, and lost a twin. Very likely in his early life, before concrete memories formed.”

Lucretia attempted to make certain her heart was still beating whilst also being stealthy about it. “Walk me through your logic.”

“Okay. First. Taako has Morphing Hair Syndrome. A condition only known amongst twinned Elves. Two, he talks of himself in third person, and frequently uses plurals instead of first person singular, which indicates that he’s the non-dominant twin. Three, he re-enforces his identity, that tells that there was some period of time when he was confused with another. And four… when he’s really anxious about something, he reaches out for someone who is no longer there. He covers it with changing his grip on the Umbrastaff, now, ma’am… and I asked him if he had family. He flat-out denied it.”

“Hm,” she said, and, “Interesting.” Inside, she was panicking so hard that she felt close to death. “Don’t mention the fruits of your research, or even what your research _was_ to anyone else. I don’t want anyone to think that anyone’s testing has been… unfair.”

“Of course, ma’am. And thank you for this opportunity.”

 

*

 

It was immediately after The Hunger War. Lup drifted up beside the kid. Angus. He had a gimcrack starter’s wand that was broken and a sullen look on his face.

This was going to be awkward.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Ma’am?”

“For trying the staff. Without you, I don’t think Koko would have ever put it together.” She settled her spectral form into a rough seated position. “That ‘humble idiot wizard’ thing he has going on is only half an act, sometimes.”

“To be fair, ma’am, he didn’t remember you. And then he thought you were dead. For keeps.”

“Guess I’m harder to kill than the average lich,” she shrugged. “I got more to hang on to.”

Angus sighed and looked down at the wand. “Guess my magic boy days are over. There won’t be any new wands for a while.”

God. She remembered being that naive when she was that young. Their wands had been stolen and they were forced to walk home from miles away because some older bully teleported them to the crossroads. But this kid was a born battler. Just like herself.

“Kid…” she said. “All you need is a dry Hazel twig. It’s just a conduit.”

“That’s exactly what Taako said, ma’am. The wand is just a conduit. And then he said that the magic is on the inside.”

She chuckled. “And then there’s the other half of the time when he’s actually clever. Tell you a secret?”

“Sure, ma’am.”

“Some days? We take turns being idiots. And fucking call me Lup. I’m your gods-damned aunty or something by now.”

 

*

 

Davenport knew this kid. He had attempted interaction during the mind-wipe. When the most he could string together were a few words. Actions had spoken louder during those twelve, long years.

The kid was a detective. At a very young age. Willing to sail through a sea of false presumptions in order to find one little island of the truth. He had made some great discoveries. Solved some intriguing puzzles.

And now he was pointing out the blank parts of the map, “They always say ‘here there be dragons, sir, but that’s more an indication of a hazard that nobody’s been able to survive.”

“Shouldn’t be too much trouble with the Starblaster,” he said. “She can hover if need be. Avoid any kind of nautical trouble.”

“There’s also the possibility that any land in those regions could be defended by hostile forces.”

Davenport grinned. “I like the way you think, Mr McDonald. Anticipating the storm before it hits.” And like himself, when he was young and dreaming of new discoveries. There had to be reasons _why_ they were uncharted territories, after all. “And how would you repel an attack?”

“Madam Director Lucretia has some very strong shield spells. Perhaps she could invest some into the Starblaster’s hull. But not with the Light. That’s… that’s a little too strong.”

“Clever thinking,” Davenport approved. “But first, we have to patch this old tub of mine back up. Restore her to her former glory. Then the spell can go in on a brand new, seaworthy hull.”

 

*

 

Barry was spending quiet time in the bureau library. He had missed research during the mind wipe. Working out ways to resolve the problems Lucretia had set up for him. He’d missed being a massive nerd. And since he had yet to prise his beloved away from her brother as of yet, he got to catch up whilst she also got to catch up.

Fourteen years and six months was a long time to go without holding your brother.

Angus parked nearby with a similarly huge stack of books.

“What are you researching?” Barry murmured.

“Post mortem striae in poisoning cases,” said Angus. “There’s been a rash of poisonings out by Tipwise Falls, and the markings are very distinctive. I suspect a relative of silverpoint, but I have to be certain before I can point any fingers, sir.”

Huh. A healthy respect for death and the methods thereof. Without being morbid or creepy. Barry remembered being kind of like that as a kid. Interested in the processes of death and what they did to the bodies. The ways that the deceased could talk without any kind of necromantic interference.

“What do the markings look like?” he asked, similarly fascinated.

“They branch along the blood vessels like silverpoint, sir, but they leave a very distinctive violet hue behind on the skin…”

 

END!


End file.
